Blinding Pokemon with Science
by Luszcz
Summary: A few random theories about certain mysteries of the pokemon world. Science!


Blinding Pokemon with Science  
  
Author's note:  
  
One of the many things that attracts me to Pokemon, besides Team Rocket, is the incredible array of never-ending mysteries that enshroud the Pokemon world. Pokemon are just as complex, if not more, as the living creatures in our own world and possess an amazing number of supernatural abilities that never fail to bewilder me, not to mention countless other Pokemon enthusiasts. These ever-perplexing capabilities have compelled me to develop and express my own personal theories about a few of the innumerable amount of mysteries that can puzzle even the most experienced Pokemon Master. Using what knowledge I have about the world of Pokemon and about our own biological world, I have formulated credible theories about various Pokemon abilities, adaptations, etc. that I hope will put some incessantly baffling enigmas to rest.  
  
*  
  
~ Pikachu, what kind of animal are you?  
  
We all know what it is. Pikachu--an electric mouse Pokemon that happens to be the incredibly annoying, right-hand Pokemon of Pokemon Master wannabe, Ash Ketchum. Wait a sec. Electric mouse? Hmmm.... the last time I checked, a mouse was a member of the rodent family, a group of relatively small mammals that have specially adapted teeth used for gnawing. Pikachu has canines. Therefore, Pikachu cannot be, and is not, a mouse!  
  
So then, what exactly is Pikachu? Let's take a look at its diet. The only natural food item that I've ever seen Pikachu eat was an apple. It has either munched on that or on Brock's homemade Pokemon food, which doesn't give us a lot to work with. But the very fact that Pikachu has tiny, razor- sharp canines in its mouth is a dead giveaway that it also eats meat. We may not have ever seen Pikachu eat any kind of meat item, but we must remember that it is a trained Pokemon. It's likely that Pikachu doesn't have any access to a meat source, and it cannot hunt for itself either because, as far as we know, Pikachu has always been a "domestic" Pokemon. I highly doubt that Ash will go out and slaughter a Stantler just so Pikachu can get a taste of its wild roots. With that said, Pikachu is an omnivore.  
  
Because Pikachu is an omnivorous Pokemon, I instantly ruled out a few groups of animals that were likely to be somewhat related to it. Pikachu is definitely not a member of the dog or cat family, which are strictly carnivorous animals. I considered the weasel family, but the vast majority of its members are capable of producing some rather foul odor used to rid of potential enemies, attract mates, etc. Obviously, Pikachu does not possess such an ability. Most members of the weasel family are carnivorous, anyway.  
  
Well, I wasn't left with much of a choice. After ruling out some other animals based on Pikachu's diet, body structure, and other features-- and quite easily, I may add--I finally came to a conclusion. Pikachu is actually a pygmy bear! Yep, and don't think that I don't have proof to back up that statement!  
  
If you take a really good look at Pikachu, the fact that it's a pygmy bear isn't so odd. With the exception of the polar bear (which is strictly carnivorous), nearly 75% of a bear's diet is made up of vegetative matter. Pikachu seems to favor items such as fruit, berries, etc. over meat, just like bears do. Pikachu is also built somewhat like a bear. It has short, stocky legs and often walks as a biped. Though they are hardly visible on its tiny paws, Pikachu's claws are also always unleased and cannot be retracted. Pikachu has a good sense of smell like bears do, as well. For example, in "Hour of the Houndour", Pikachu used its sensitive nose to pick up the scent of the "Pokemon thief" that stole Ash-tachi's bread and led them to its tracks. True, bears are solitary animals, and Pikachu live in family units; but lions live in prides, yet they are still members of the cat family. Pikachu need the strength in numbers, anyway; they're relatively weak Pokemon and wouldn't be able to survive individually. Pikachu also has an unusually long tail for a bear, but the long tail is a common adaptation that is used to act as a ground for electric-type Pokemon.  
  
Well, it may have taken a lot to prove the Pokedex wrong about it classifying Pikachu as a mouse, but at least I made my point! Heh, I bet you never thought that Pikachu's closest animal relative would be Gentle Ben! *note: Pichu and Raichu are no exceptions; they're pygmy bears, too!  
  
~ Pichu--what's the deal with this Pokemon!?  
  
In "Pikachu's Goodbye", Ash-tachi met up with a large group of wild Pikachu. The Pikachu were reluctant to accept Ash's Pika into their gang because they didn't like the fact that it was human-trained. However, after a successful attempt to save one of their baby Pikas from being swept down a treacherous waterfall, Pikachu was welcomed with open arms... or paws... or whatever.  
  
This is where the story doesn't check out. With the arrival of the Johto Journeys and 100 newly discovered Pokemon, we learned that Pikachu is actually an evolved Pokemon. Its predecessor, Pichu, is the "baby" stage of this pygmy bear Pokemon. How is it possible that a baby Pikachu can exist?  
  
Pichu's a weak Pokemon. There are no two ways about it. Its attack power is no good, its speed isn't great, its special attack/defense is nothing special, and I'll be damned if it even deserves a defense rating! The poor thing can't even emit simple electric attacks without shocking itself! If we take a look at the "survival of the fittest" theory, we'll find that this Pokemon should have been wiped out a long time ago. Yet Pichu exists.  
  
True, the strongest organisms are the most likely to survive, but the ones that are most responsive to change are usually able to outlast even the strongest. And this is how Pichu can exist--evolution. Now let's just forget about the Pokedex for a while. At least forget what it says about Pichu evolving only when it is extremely attached to its trainer because that's nothing more than a heaping pile of Tauros crap! In order for wild Pichu to survive, as well as trained Pichu, they have to evolve--fast. Whether or not a Pichu is trained will not have any effect on its evolution. Battle experience also has nothing to do with Pichu's evolution. It evolves when it evolves; that's all there is to it.  
  
Because they are so weak, Pichu must evolve relatively faster than most other Pokemon. Not long after birth, maybe a few weeks up to two months, depending on each individual Pichu, a Pichu will evolve into Pikachu. This explains the baby Pikachu. Because Pichu evolve so quickly, they do most of their physical growing in the Pikachu stage. Pikachu is the one that sexually matures and reaches adult size. That baby Pikachu must have just recently evolved.  
  
The only other physical growth that will occur in a Pikachu is if it comes into contact with a Thunder Stone and evolves into Raichu. Thunder Stones are pretty scarce, and a Pikachu doesn't exactly know how to "work" one, which is why you almost never see any Raichu running around in the wild. Nevertheless, such a method of rapid evolution helps these pygmy bear Pokemon to successfully survive and pass on their genes.  
  
~ Evolution Stones--what they didn't tell you in Chemistry class!  
  
I think it's about time that somebody should explain these things. When a specific Evolution Stone comes into contact with a certain Pokemon, the Pokemon suddenly evolves. We all realize that, but we have never heard about how it is able to evolve in this way.  
  
One bit of evidence was found in "The Electric Shock Showdown". After pondering for a few moments about evolving into Raichu, Pikachu smacked a Thunder Stone out of Ash's hand. Shouldn't Pikachu have evolved as soon as its tail hit the Thunder Stone? Obviously not, or else it would have evolved. A Pokemon can only evolve by means of an Evolution Stone if all conditions are perfect. What I mean by "if all conditions are perfect" is: 1) The Pokemon can only evolve with the aid of an Evolution Stone. 2) The Evolution Stone must be compatible with its Pokemon. 3) The Evolution Stone must undergo some type of chemical change in order to evolve its Pokemon.  
  
Only a few Pokemon are able to evolve by means of an Evolution Stone. For example, a Growlithe evolves into Arcanine by using a Fire Stone, but a Charmeleon evolves into Charizard by leveling up. Charmeleon only evolves in this way; you can't hold a Fire Stone to a Charmeleon and expect it to evolve. Vice versa goes for Growlithe. You can have a Growlithe level up all you want, but it won't evolve without a Fire Stone.  
  
An Evolution Stone must also be compatible with its Pokemon. You can't evolve the electric-type Pikachu with a Leaf Stone. That's just common sense. The element of an Evolution Stone must match the element of the Pokemon to be evolved.  
  
Lastly, an Evolution Stone must undergo some type of chemical change in order to evolve its Pokemon. What kind of chemical change the stone undergoes depends on what kind of Evolution Stone it is and what Pokemon it's evolving. The stone may have to be exposed to increased temperatures, sunlight, or any other element that would trigger a chemical reaction within it and give it the capability to evolve a certain Pokemon. In addition, some Evolution Stones (e.g. Water Stone, Thunder Stone) have hard, outer membranes that must be broken before their chemical compositions are altered.  
  
More complex than you thought, huh? Keep reading; there's still plenty more theories!  
  
~ Team Rocket's Pokemon--just what genders are they anyway? *note: For now, I'll only classify TR's current party.  
  
Arbok: male  
Evidence? Yup. In "Lights, Camera, Quacktion!", Jessie allowed Arbok to audition for the part of Wigglytuff's forbidden lover. Because he hadn't met Wigglytuff prior to the audition, Arbok didn't know what he was getting himself into. The first time he laid eyes on the balloon Pokemon was when he had to "sing" with her in order to get the part. Ah, it was love at first sight. Arbok was simply dazzled by Wigglytuff's unparalleled beauty, remember? But the poor cobra was shot down when she became irate from his loving stares. Wigglytuff slapped Arbok silly, and Clevon Shpielbunk forced him out of the auditions.  
  
I highly doubt that Wigglytuff was a male. Jessie did refer to the balloon Pokemon as a "prima donna". Also, all of the other trainers who auditioned their Pokemon cast males for the part (ie: Ash's Pikachu, Misty's Psyduck). Homosexuality is not an issue concerning Pokemon, either. With that said, Arbok is a male.  
  
Weezing: male  
I originally thought that Weezing was a hermaphrodite. Before I saw "Lights, Camera, Quacktion!" (and learned a little more about hermaphroditic animals), this assumption made perfect sense. One head would be male, the other would be female, and Weezing would reproduce asexually. But two factors told me that my inference was false. 1) Along with Arbok, Weezing also fell in love with the Wigglytuff of "Lights, Camera, Quacktion!". "Heart eyes" popped up on both heads when Weezing saw his would-be co-star. 2) Hermaphroditic animals commonly have rather unusual body structure and are slow-moving or spend the majority of their lives attached to a surface. Though their body structure may be unusual, hermaphrodites are not complex in terms of anatomy.  
  
Because both of Weezing's heads showed affection toward Wigglytuff, Weezing could only be of one gender; that of which is male. And although Weezing has an unusual body structure, he's a pretty complex creature. He is certainly not slow-moving or spends his life attached to a surface, which also disproves him as a hermaphrodite.  
  
Wobbuffet: male  
As of now, there is no hard evidence to prove Wobbuffet as a male or female. The only reason I can give is because he always pops out of his Poke Ball to see Jessie. To me, Wobbuffet isn't trying to be annoying; he just wants to show some affection for his beloved trainer! In "Hassle in the Castle", Wobbuffet popped out of his Poke Ball to brave the hidden dangers of the underground maze, just so Jessie wouldn't have to face them alone! Wobbuffet seems to be much more content with her than he ever was with that Benny twerp. Male Pokemon do seem to prefer female trainers. Yup, good ol' Wobbuffet makes Psyduck look bad!  
  
Victreebel: female  
As with Wobbuffet, there is no hard evidence to prove Victreebel's gender, but how else can you explain all of those love-bites for Jimmy?  
  
~ Rapid evolution--one chromosome, two chromosome, three chromosome, four...  
  
Those of you who have seen "Mewtwo Returns" will remember that two cloned Pokemon, a Ryhorn and a Nidoqueen, had mated (presumably with wild male Pokemon that naturally inhabited the island) and given birth during the interim between Mewtwo's first encounter with Ash-tachi and this Johto adventure. I don't have anything to say about the Ryhorn's offspring, but Nidoqueen's young definitely have issues! They were all baby Nidoqueen.  
  
Anyone who knows Pokemon should have realized that this is impossible. Any offspring of Pokemon that reproduce sexually are born at their lowest stage of evolution. (Hey! The Pokedex actually got something right!) Because they were practically newborns, all four of Nidoqueen's offspring should have been female Nidoran, not Nidoqueen. Yet they were all Nidoqueen. So what happened?  
  
Two rare phenomenons occurred. First off, a large mammal like Nidoqueen typically has a single birth when a mature egg is fertilized, but this Nidoqueen had multiple births. In this unusual case, her one fertilized egg divided into four embryos at a very early stage of development, which yielded four identical offspring.  
  
To make things even more interesting, there was another twist of fate. During the formation of either the father's sperm or the mother's egg, a chromosomal mutation took place. Deletion is a chromosomal mutation that occurs when a piece of a chromosome breaks off, resulting in the loss of some genes. Pokemon capable of level-up or age-related evolution have two groups of genes that control the rate at which they evolve. One group contains the genes of "slow" evolution. They assure that a particular Pokemon will evolve when it reaches a certain level (or a higher level if the Pokemon does not evolve just then) or age. The other group contains the genes for "fast" evolution. These genes make sure that when a Pokemon begins to evolve, evolution ends in a matter of seconds. Deletion occurred during the formation of either the sperm that fertilized Nidoqueen's egg or Nidoqueen's egg itself. When this happened, the majority of "slow" evolution genes were lost. Because Nidoqueen's offspring were all identical, rapid evolution would be bound to occur in each baby.  
  
All four of Nidoqueen's offspring were born as they normally would be- -female Nidoran. But because they inherited identical traits, each one evolved abnormally quickly (probably within just a few days after birth) into pygmy Nidorina. Their genes for "fast" evolution simply outnumbered and overpowered the few remaining genes for "slow" evolution, which was the factor that caused them to evolve so quickly. The offspring evolved into pygmy Nidorina because they did not have the time to physically develop as they would in the female Nidoran stage.  
  
But as you know, Nidorina cannot evolve into Nidoqueen without the aid of a Moon Stone. Because their genes for "fast" evolution dominated their few "slow" evolution genes, the offspring also became extremely sensitive to radiation from the Moon Stone. I wouldn't doubt that the special environment they were living in had some remnants of Moon Stones scattered around. If the pygmy Nidorina came within a certain distance from even the slightest fragment of a Moon Stone, they would evolve instantaneously. Physical contact wouldn't even be necessary. It is most likely that the pygmy Nidorina were exposed to slight amounts of Moon Stone radiation not long after they had evolved, causing them to remain pygmies even in the Nidoqueen stage.  
  
Whether or not a certain Pokemon will be affected by rapid evolution depends on its species and method of evolution. Pokemon that are victims of rapid evolution are destined to remain pygmies for life. Their ability to evolve abnormally quickly does not allow them to physically develop in their lowest stage(s), thus dramatically decreasing their average adult size. These Pokemon are also unable to reproduce. Such immediate evolution does not allow the proper amount of time needed for full gamete development and maturity. Nevertheless, the occurrence of Pokemon that evolve in this way is relatively uncommon. 


End file.
